Are you planning to set up a new business website? Even if you already have one, make sure the site is ADA compliant. The number of users on the web has been increased significantly. Before understanding the importance of the ADA compliant website, let’s take a look at a bit of history.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in the year 1990. The purpose of this act was to make sure Americans with disabilities have the same opportunities as anyone else. As a business owner, you need to make sure your business accommodates people with different types of disabilities.
During the 1990s, when the ADA was passed, there wasn’t much internet presence. At present, you will note that so many social and economic activity goes on the web. Having an ADA compliant website ensures that your business website will be accessible to people who have disabilities that affect their hearing, vision, or physical capabilities. ADA compliance is not just about sites; it applies to mobile apps as well.
Not long ago, a rule has been passed for the official standard of website accessibility for businesses. According to Title III of the ADA, all “places of public accommodation” are required to remove access barriers that would hinder a disabled person from accessing the goods or services of the business. The law decided by courts states that your business website must be accessible to users with different types of disabilities.
If you are still unsure whether your website needs to be ADA compliant, check out the below-given points. These are the points stating the importance of ADA compliant websites:
1. Increases your target audience
One of the main reasons why your website needs to be ADA compliant is because it helps to increase the target audience. Do you know there are almost 50 million people with disabilities in the U.S.? It comes down to 19% of the country’s population. From this data, we can say that a website that is not ADA compliant will miss out on millions of potential customers, as people with disabilities cannot access the site.
The chances are they may be interested in your products or services, but when they come to your website, they can’t navigate through it. Due to this, they won’t be able to buy anything from your site and won’t be able to reach you out. For example, if your website has a video that discusses your product or service, if there are no captions in that video, people who are deaf won’t understand it.
In a nutshell, an ADA compliant website increases the target audience for the business by providing proper website navigation to people with disabilities.
2. Build a reputation
Making the website ADA compliant will also help you build a business reputation. Having an ADA compliant website will not just increase the target audience by millions; it will also make your target audience to visit the website repeatedly.
The chances are your customers might have already gone through many other websites but may not found ADA compliant websites. In this case, your target audience will understand the value of your ADA compliant website.
By fulfilling ADA rules, your customers will not just make purchases repeatedly from your business, but they will also refer your business to their friends and relatives.
3. Boost SEO efforts
If you want your website to get the top spot on giant search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, it is imperative to give proper attention to SEO. SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of increasing the website’s relevant traffic.
SEO is not just about a few factors. To enhance your website’s SEO, you need to focus on different factors. By making your website ADA compliant, you can boost your website’s search engine appearance.
When your website meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), it states your site content will be accessible to a broader range of people with disabilities. Search engine bots will crawl your web pages to check whether it is ADA compliant. If your site is ADA compliant, it will get SEO benefits.
4. Improve user experience
If you want to stand apart from the rest of your competitors, it is so essential to provide a quality user experience. You need to make sure the visitor lands to your website gets a better user experience.
By making your business website ADA compliant, you will be improving the user experience of people with disabilities. According to a study, it was found that around 98% of the world’s top 1 million websites are non-compliant.
In the end, what matters is the user experience of your visitors. When your site does not provide a quality experience, your visitors are likely to bounce back. If your website is non-compliant, you can fix it and improve the experience of site visitors. It will not just benefit people with disabilities; it will help all the users.
5. Avoid ADA compliance lawsuits
A non complaint website will not just take away a broad audience from you, but it may also lead to lawsuits. In the year 2018, more than 10,000 sites were violating Title III of ADA. Do you know Fordham University, Foot Locker, Brooks Brothers, and Kylie Jenner were sued for the lack of ADA compliance?
The increase in ADA compliance lawsuits forced business websites to improve usability by making it ADA compliant. Many organizations face ADA compliance lawsuits after someone had a poor experience.
Not just organizations, the websites slapped with ADA compliance lawsuits include retailers, restaurants, and industries. The good thing is, it is not hard to avoid lawsuits. To ensure the website is ADA compliant, you just need to put some effort and improve the user experience.
Final Thoughts
From the above explanation, you can get an idea about how important it is to have an ADA compliant website. It will not just help you increase your target audience, but it will also boost your SEO efforts, build the reputation, improve the user experience of visitors, and avoid potential ADA compliance lawsuits.
